Genetics News

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Dr. Sherva awarded NIH R01 Grant

Exploring mechanisms driving microbe-induced AD risk using next generations sequence data

Dr. Richard Sherva awarded NIH R01 grant

Multiple lines of evidence suggest microbial infections are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides possess antimicrobial activity and may protect against human herpes viruses (HHV). Viral DNA is also detectable in Aβ plaques, and HHV DNA detected in next generation sequencing (NGS) experiments is associated with AD risk. Read More Here

 

 

Dr. Gyungah Jun Faculty Promotion

CONGRATULATIONS!

Dr. Gyungah Jun, BUSM, Medicine/Biomedical Genetics, is a genetic epidemiologist who focuses on “big data” driven drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Dr. Jun has been involved in the large U.S. and international consortia to identify AD risk genes with or without stratification by APOE genotypes across multi-ethnic populations. This effort led to an innovative and novel therapeutic concept for AD based on the well-established protective effect of the APOE ε2 allele, while she is a site PI for a new cohort for prevention and treatment trials to target APOE in AD therapeutics. Dr. Jun is a Director of the Genome Guided Drug Discovery (GGDD) Core at the AI4AD consortium, which is a large coordinated national initiative for AD therapeutics and features transformative Artificial Intelligence (AI) approaches using human big data. She is a founding member of the Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD) Consortium and Chairs two workgroups, Data Management and Data Analysis, as well as a steering committee member for the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program (FHS-BAP), leading to identify genetic and molecular signatures from blood and brain. Dr. Jun recently joined in BU Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center as an Associate Director of the Genetic and Molecular Profiling Core.

Dr. Dasgupta honored as the recipient of the GMS Exceptional Teaching Award during COVID-19

Dr. Shoumita Dasgupta has been honored as the recipient of the GMS Exceptional Teaching Award during COVID-19, on behalf of the GMS Awards Committee. This award recognizes faculty who "embraced the GMS mission during the COVID-19 crisis and went above and beyond the expected contributions despite the challenges of the pandemic." Dr. Dasgupta was nominated for this award by the students and has made a significant impact on them during the COVID-19 crisis. Read more here

Dr. Zhang honored as a recipient of the 2021 Spivack Young Investigator Award

Dr. Xiaoling Zhang has been honored as the recipient of the 2021 Spivack Young Investigator Award as part of the Jack Spivack Excellence in Neuroscience Awards. These awards were established in 2013 to honor the work of outstanding BUSM faculty conducting research in Parkinson’s (PD), Alzheimer’s (AD), Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) and other neurological disorders. Dr. Zhang is being honored for her outstanding research in Alzheimer's Disease and "aims to to explore how individual cell types/subpopulations contribute to Alzheimer’s Disease patients with diverse ancestral backgrounds." Results from Dr. Zhang's research will help to "inform targeted functional studies to regulate AD-related GWAS genes in specific cell types in the AD brain." Dr. Zhang's research will also help with finding potential new drugs related to different ethnic groups in AD. Read more here  

Dr. Gyungah Jun awarded new pilot grant to study genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease in Asian-Americans and Asian-Canadians

Dr. Gyungah Jun, along with fellow Principal Investigators, Li-San Wang, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Helena Chui, of the University of Southern California, and Van Ta Park, of the University of California—San Francisco, has been awarded a two-year, $4.8 million pilot grant by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) for studies of the genetics of Alzheimer’s Disease in people of Asian heritage.

According to the official press release, "A key goal of the new project, which is called the Asian Cohort for Alzheimer’s Disease (ACAD), is to enroll a population of at least 5,000 participants of Asian Ancestry in the United States and Canada—a large enough sample to enable the discovery of new gene variants related to AD risk. ACAD will be recruiting participants over age 60 who have evidence of cognitive impairment, as well as age- and sex-matched controls who have no cognitive complaints. The researchers will compare the DNA, medical histories, and lifestyle factors of these two groups for clues to risks for dementia, and will track participants’ memory and other cognitive test scores."

Read more here!

Here is the list of ACAD media:
WEBSITE: http://www.acadstudy.org/
TWITTER - https://twitter.com/acadstudy  
FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/acadresearchstudy
INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/acadstudy 
YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXXRD2vMqVelogMoh00ujvw 

Dr. Jun receives a new subaward agreement from the University of Southern California

Dr. Gyungah Jun has recently received a subaward agreement from the University of Southern California for a U01 award, titled “Ultrascale Machine Learning to Empower Discovery in Alzheimer’s Disease Biobanks.” For this grant, Dr. Jun will serve as a PI for the Genome Guided Drug Discovery Core and will contribute her expertise regarding aspects of human genomic guided drug discovery and biomarker development to this project linking to AD drug discovery. She will be responsible for data interpretation and analysis, and general project and personnel management at the Core in BUMC. She will also participate in the large consortium related activities for this project.

Dr. Lindsay Farrer & Dr. Rhoda Au awarded new grant to establish the Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program

NIH Grant Will Establish New Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program

Dr. Lindsay Farrer & Dr. Rhoda Au have been awarded a new grant from the NIH that will help establish the new Framingham Heart Study Brain Aging Program (FHS-BAP). The FHS-BAP will concentrate on a number of functions, including continued study of FHS participants for dementia, revitalizing the brain donation program & brain bank, establishing a platform to promote Data Sharing, and more!